What would possess CSNBayArea.com’s Andrew Baggerly to publicly float a rumor (via Twitter, natch) that Giants OF Melky Cabrera had recently flunked a drug test?  “We live in a different media universe and the rules are changing every day,” writes Baggerly in offering an explanation rather than an excuse.  At least that’s what I’d hope, as it that would be a pretty lame excuse.

If I were Melky Cabrera, would I appreciate a reporter who knocked down a rumor that was just a whisper in some corners of the Internet? Or would I be royally pissed to see my name mentioned alongside PEDs, no matter the context, by a credentialed, professional journalist?

It’s obvious, isn’t it? Well, it should have been obvious to me. It wasn’t.

In retrospect, I made the wrong decision to address these rumors on my Twitter account and disseminate it to my 30,000-plus followers.

So I feel it’s important that I issue a public apology to Melky Cabrera for giving greater voice to a rumor that, to the best of my knowledge and on his word, has absolutely no basis in fact.

I can only hope that he, and the rest of the Giants clubhouse, coaches and front-office personnel, at least understand that my motivations were not nefarious or self-oriented in any way. I wasn’t looking to create a story. I was trying to squash one that has no basis in fact